I had a different sort of day. Yesterday morning I had only just turned up to start on the garden, when three people came up to the old building. Needless to say I gave them the tour, although we were closed. It turned out that the three of them were all teachers, one local and two from Madrid. They really enjoyed their visit, and it looks like we're going to get more business from them.
The evening and night were horrible. The nomadic persons in our flats were in fine form. It was continuous noise from 4pm onwards. It was still going on when I turned in at 10.30pm. I don't know how I managed to sleep. I must have been very tired.
Earlier on I took myself to the pub to get away from it. The cider was really awful, with bits & pieces and what looked like slime drifting about in it. I had one sip. That was a mistake; it tasted even worse than it looked. I took myself straight home again to enjoy my neighbours' antics.
The news was horrible again. I watched 'democracy' in action, when a bunch of dodgy politicians without a mandate got their way in Parliament. It's surprising what a 'bung' can get you.
Friday, 30 June 2017
Tuesday, 27 June 2017
Current affairs
Life
I've been quite busy since the last time I wrote. I'm working on a number of new (for me) sonatas by Scarlatti and Soler, with a view to putting on another concert in a few months. I've also been spending a lot of time trying to knock the garden into shape. Apart from that I've had my usual sessions at the historic building. Yesterday we had another group of children from Chernobyl, who had come to England for a holiday. They were such fun, playing games in the garden, dressed in period costume, and joining in with the music. I find days like that really worthwhile.
Earlier in the week, while we were closed, an elderly Ukrainian woman and her daughter were looking round the garden, so I showed her around the building. She spoke very little English, but my smattering of half-remembered Russian came in really handy. They really liked the place. There are times I realise I'm not as daft as I think I am.
Earlier in the week, while we were closed, an elderly Ukrainian woman and her daughter were looking round the garden, so I showed her around the building. She spoke very little English, but my smattering of half-remembered Russian came in really handy. They really liked the place. There are times I realise I'm not as daft as I think I am.
Tuesday, 20 June 2017
On reflection....
It really is all gloom and doom lately. In this country there have been two terrorist atrocities with major loss of life. Yesterday a bungled act of terrorism resulted in a number of people being injured. Then last week there was the terrible fire in a block of flats in London. I should be very surprised if the death toll doesn't rise much higher.
Then yesterday the death was reported of the American student who got into trouble in North Korea and had been in a coma for about a year. It all looks very suspicious indeed. Fifteen years' hard labour for nicking a poster is a horribly excessive sentence, but not out of keeping with what one might expect from a dictatorship. What the hell was he doing in a country like that, and what possessed him to take the poster? Whatever the reason, he didn't deserve what happened to him.
Meanwhile we still have the strong and stable one, who seems hell bent on hanging on to power whatever it takes. Even if that means forming a dodgy alliance with some very dubious people in order to do so.
The world could be such a lovely place, if it weren't for the people who live in it.
Then yesterday the death was reported of the American student who got into trouble in North Korea and had been in a coma for about a year. It all looks very suspicious indeed. Fifteen years' hard labour for nicking a poster is a horribly excessive sentence, but not out of keeping with what one might expect from a dictatorship. What the hell was he doing in a country like that, and what possessed him to take the poster? Whatever the reason, he didn't deserve what happened to him.
Meanwhile we still have the strong and stable one, who seems hell bent on hanging on to power whatever it takes. Even if that means forming a dodgy alliance with some very dubious people in order to do so.
The world could be such a lovely place, if it weren't for the people who live in it.
Monday, 12 June 2017
Strange times
It has been all go on the political front, what with the run-up to the General Election, the election itself and the subsequent fallout. The Government's campaign was an utter disgrace, and consisted largely of soundbites and personal attacks on Labour MPs. Well the government has taken a right hiding. Good. They have the largest number of seats of any party, but only managed to poll 2% more of the votes than the Labour Party did. And Labour now has more support than the other lot, if the polls are to be believed.
The squatter at Number Ten has now unveiled her latest Chamber of Horrors, which is to all intents and purposes exactly the same as it was before the election. Her position in Parliament is so weakened, that she is now trying to broker an alliance with a bunch of hard-nuts.
It's all quite frightening, when you think about it. It can't be too long away until she is finally dislodged. And I fully expect there to be another general election shortly afterwards, when this awful, vindictive administration will get booted out.
Strong and stable, eh? Don't make me laugh! Aggressive and arrogant is more to the point. Not long ago she could hardly keep away from the television screens. Now neither she nor her henchmen seem to have anything to say to to any of the news reporters. I suppose she is probably lying low until she has finished cooking up her alibi. It is ironic that she seems to have met the very fate that she had predicted for her opponent; she has found herself 'naked and alone'. Funny, that, ain't it? Well I'm not laughing. It ain't funny. But I'm not crying either.
The squatter at Number Ten has now unveiled her latest Chamber of Horrors, which is to all intents and purposes exactly the same as it was before the election. Her position in Parliament is so weakened, that she is now trying to broker an alliance with a bunch of hard-nuts.
It's all quite frightening, when you think about it. It can't be too long away until she is finally dislodged. And I fully expect there to be another general election shortly afterwards, when this awful, vindictive administration will get booted out.
Strong and stable, eh? Don't make me laugh! Aggressive and arrogant is more to the point. Not long ago she could hardly keep away from the television screens. Now neither she nor her henchmen seem to have anything to say to to any of the news reporters. I suppose she is probably lying low until she has finished cooking up her alibi. It is ironic that she seems to have met the very fate that she had predicted for her opponent; she has found herself 'naked and alone'. Funny, that, ain't it? Well I'm not laughing. It ain't funny. But I'm not crying either.
Wednesday, 17 May 2017
Lately
Last week I went to visit my brother. Twice in four months is quite a record. We're getting on better now than we have ever done. What a shame it has such a long time. The day I arrived I started to go down with a cold, and by the end of the week I was feeling pretty rotten.
I played both days of the weekend as usual, and managed to fit in a bit of gardening too. Several passers-by have commented on how nice it is starting to look. One person even said that it has never looked to nice as it does now. I still have to put up with the petty vandalism, and find branches snapped off things with sickening monotony. This morning it was the tree paeony. Previous targets have included the lilac, a rhododendron and a couple of rose bushes.
On Monday I gave a short presentation to a party of mentally-disabled teenagers, and today I'll be doing something similar for three groups (I can't remember who they are).
In the meanwhile I've started work on a Spanish programme for my next harpsichord recital. Apart from all this I'm very lazy.
I played both days of the weekend as usual, and managed to fit in a bit of gardening too. Several passers-by have commented on how nice it is starting to look. One person even said that it has never looked to nice as it does now. I still have to put up with the petty vandalism, and find branches snapped off things with sickening monotony. This morning it was the tree paeony. Previous targets have included the lilac, a rhododendron and a couple of rose bushes.
On Monday I gave a short presentation to a party of mentally-disabled teenagers, and today I'll be doing something similar for three groups (I can't remember who they are).
In the meanwhile I've started work on a Spanish programme for my next harpsichord recital. Apart from all this I'm very lazy.
Monday, 8 May 2017
A milestone
On Thursday evening I gave my first ever public recital. I had always had a horror of playing in front of people. It was all the eyes that I used to find so overwhelming. All the being watched. And all the awareness that I get so 'locked-in' when I'm playing, that my autism is written all over my face. Of course I now know that there is nothing wrong with that, but it did used to make me feel very strange.
In the lead-up to the concert, when I ran through my programme, I realised that I had prepared far too much music; an enormous amount in fact, running for some three hours or so. I got round that by omitting any repeats, so the final playing time was about an hour and three-quarters. My lesson for next time is that I will prepare fewer pieces, and play them in full. And I will start half an hour earlier. I did feel tired by the time I finished.
I hadn't been worried at all about my concert. That was something completely different for me, as I had been terrorised at uni by the thought of having to play in front of people. Last Thursday, however, my hands and face became numb when I kicked off, and I felt a bit light-headed and short of breath. Those feelings soon passed though, and I began to feel much more comfortable. I was aware of several 'slips and bumps', but the listeners apparently were not. I lost my place once during the second half, but made a joke of it. Those present said they had really enjoyed the evening, and their faces said the same thing. So I've started preparing for another recital at the same venue. Next time it will be Spanish music from the Eighteenth Century, Scarlatti, Soler etc. I'm already looking forward to it.
In the lead-up to the concert, when I ran through my programme, I realised that I had prepared far too much music; an enormous amount in fact, running for some three hours or so. I got round that by omitting any repeats, so the final playing time was about an hour and three-quarters. My lesson for next time is that I will prepare fewer pieces, and play them in full. And I will start half an hour earlier. I did feel tired by the time I finished.
I hadn't been worried at all about my concert. That was something completely different for me, as I had been terrorised at uni by the thought of having to play in front of people. Last Thursday, however, my hands and face became numb when I kicked off, and I felt a bit light-headed and short of breath. Those feelings soon passed though, and I began to feel much more comfortable. I was aware of several 'slips and bumps', but the listeners apparently were not. I lost my place once during the second half, but made a joke of it. Those present said they had really enjoyed the evening, and their faces said the same thing. So I've started preparing for another recital at the same venue. Next time it will be Spanish music from the Eighteenth Century, Scarlatti, Soler etc. I'm already looking forward to it.
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